formail -- order of arguments matters????

I thought "good programming" (of which I know very little) dictates that the  
order of arguments should not matter? (I could be wrong here).

But when I try to use this:

        FROM=`formail -xzFrom:`

FROM gets set to nothing....


This works

        FROM=`formail -zxFrom:`

and FROM gets set to

        Timothy Luoma <luomat(_at_)peak(_dot_)org>
        
(or whoever sent the mail)      

I don't remember ever hearing about this before.

TjL

ps -- Hebrew started as of 2 July, and ends on 22 August, so
please understand if responses are slow.  I am taking a 2
semester class in 8 weeks for 6 credits

--
'The biggest problem I have is that all my memory is "Random Access"'
                                - me, after the midterm exam